Serra’s epic is a narratively sparse and visually vast, filled with political paranoia and an apocalyptic despair.
M. de Roller, the French high commissioner strolls around with raffish entitlement in his rumpled white suit. His somewhat broad perception of his role brings him to navigate the high end 'establishment' as well as shady venues where he mingles with the locals. Especially since a persistent rumour has been going around: the sighting of a submarine whose ghostly presence could herald the return of French nuclear testing.
Think John le Carré by way of David Lynch - a feverish and haunting but also wry and meditative rumination on power, secrecy and the colour of clouds over water at sunset.